Forecaster Leus explained the record warm weather in January

This year, the high-altitude frontal zone is located in the areas of the Arctic coast of the Russian Federation, and cyclones passing mainly by northern routes brought warm air from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean instead of cold air, so in January there is a temperature above the climatic norm. This was told to "Izvestia" by leading specialist of the weather center "Phobos" Mikhail Leus on January 28.

"In the atmosphere of the northern hemisphere there is such a thing as a high-altitude frontal zone, along which cyclonic vortices move most often. In colder winters, this high-altitude frontal zone descends to the south and is somewhere over the southern regions of the European part of our country, over the Black Earth," he specified.

Most cyclones follow these routes, drawing colder polar or even Arctic air into the center of European Russia, including the capital region, the forecaster added.

"This year, this high-altitude frontal zone is located much further north, somewhere in the areas of the Arctic coast of our country, and, accordingly, cyclones go mainly by these routes north, and instead of cold air, warm air from the Atlantic or even from the Mediterranean gets to us. And instead of snow we get rains and instead of frosts we get a record of warmth," Leus explained.

At the same time, he noted that there were quite a lot of cyclones this year. They are actively formed in the North Atlantic and move from west to east.

"What is the reason for such a large number of cyclones and why this high-altitude frontal zone is quite far to the north? One reason is the El Niño phenomenon that ended last year, which raised temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean. Accordingly, gradually this warm anomaly spread throughout the almost all the world ocean, which increased the temperature in the Atlantic, in its northern part, where one of the centers of cyclone formation is located," Leus said.

According to him, since the beginning of February very warm weather, high positive anomaly will end. And, starting from the 1st of the month, the temperature will begin to gradually decrease.

"However, to say that suddenly it will suddenly become cold at once and frost will return to the central part of European Russia is wrong. Yes, the temperature will go from the current +4...+6 to the daily marks of February 1-2 within +1.... +3, precipitation will be in a mixed phase, that is, we will see both snow and wet snow. But we should not expect a sharp drop in temperature in the first two or three days of February," the expert emphasized.

He specified that there will be no records, the temperature will drop, but it will still remain noticeably above the climatic norm.

Earlier, on January 27, leading expert of the information agency "Meteonovosti" Tatyana Pozdnyakova in a conversation with "Izvestia" noted that during this week in Moscow and Moscow region is predicted record warm weather. It is expected that the warmest in the capital will be January 30, when the night temperature will be somewhere within +2...+4, and +4 during the day, while in the center it may rise to +6.